Many amazing transformations documented on this great site. Thought it would be a kick to have a collection of initial acquisition and 'end state' (yeah as if there is such a thing) pics with whatever narrative you care to provide.
My offering is probably the least dramatic. It all started when my wife's partner came over in her white '72S with a sport muffler. She handed me the keys and said I should take it out for an hour and see what I thought. The sound of that sport muffler and the crescendo of the motor was all it took to get me on my quest. About a year later I picked up a 73 S in Hollywood, Calif for what I considered was a relative "bargain". After driving it with it's worn second gear, shabby interior but still strong-ish motor, I decided to go for it. The owner said it was in good enough shape to drive from LA to Seattle, but I needed to be back at work the next day, so I drove myself to LAX and wished it good by until it arrived by transport. (Good thing I didn't drive it because on its second start up at home, a fuel line sprang a leak and sprayed enough fuel, on thankfully a cold engine, to start a nice BBQ.)
The paint was fairly badly checked, come to find out it was wearing 4 coats of Gran Prix white, which was later discovered when it was completely stripped down. Being a formerly Texas and then So Cal car, no rust was found, except around the bottom of the windshield tray and a couple of small spots at the bottom of the driver's door. At least all the paint was true to the COA. Of course all the tired rubber was replaced while the car was apart. During paint I decided I wanted more of a light-weight look, so the deco, rocker and other superfluous trim was deleted. All the original parts were preserved, including the deleted AC, in case some one more ambitious than myself attempts a full restoration.
The interior was pretty much shot - but at least it was a full leather interior with hounds tooth inserts. Since the seats were not sports seats, they are still sitting in the attic awaiting refurbishing. Some contemporary Recaros are temporarily filling the bill which are very supportive for spirited driving. Carpets, headliner, and sundry pieces were replaced or refurbished.
The 2.4S motor was also pretty tired. Rather than rebuilding it, I decided to shelve it and for just about the same expense have a MFI 2.7RS spec built. At the same time the transmission was gone through and a Quaife was installed. What a dramatic transformation between the 2.7 and the LSD.
All the suspension bushings were shot, so all were replaced with bigger t-bars front and rear. After alignment and corner balancing the handling abilities of the car was transformed.
Along the way 100 little detail items which all of us are too familiar with, have been attended to. Which pretty much brings us up to present state. The car is a kick to drive, and does everything much better than the driver ever could.
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